The Jharkhand High Court on Friday granted bail to former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav in connection with the Chaibasa Treasury case related to the Rs 950 crore fodder scam. However, the former CM will remain in jail since the Dumka treasury case is still pending.
The case pertained to withdrawal of Rs 33.67 crore from the Chaibasa treasury during the year 1993-93, when the RJD leader was the chief minister of Bihar.
The High Court asked Yadav to submit two personal bonds of Rs 50,000 each and deposit penalty of Rs 2 lakh for securing bail. It also sought his medical report and details of all those he has met during the course of his treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.
Lalu Prasad Yadav’s has been convicted in six cases in connection to misappropriation of public funds and there have been varying sentences awarded in these cases. He has been in prison since 2017. The former union minister has been convicted in three cases related to the fodder scam and sentenced to 3.5 years, 5 years and 14 years of jail terms.
On January 24, 2018, a special CBI court in Ranchi had convicted Yadav and former chief minister Jagannath Mishra in the third case of multi-crore fodder scam related to the fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Chaibasa treasury in 1990s. The court had handed both Lalu and Jagannath a jail term of five years, besides a fine of Rs. 5 lakh each. A total of 50 accused were convicted in the case while six were let off.
He is concurrently serving these jail terms. He was granted bail in Deoghar treasury case by the Jharkhand High Court in December 2013 and in one of the fodder scam cases on grounds that he had served half of the 3.5 years of imprisonment awarded to him.
The 72- year- old, a stalwart of Bihar politics since 1977, will not be directly associated with the Bihar polls which will be held in three phases starting October 28. Lalu Prasad Yadav has been banned from contesting polls and disqualified from Parliament.
